By Vanessa Braithwaite
AFTER expressing interest in having Region 10 cassava farmers supply the giant rice company exclusively with their produce, executives of Alesie Group Inc concretised the deal last Thursday at a consultation meeting.The meeting was held after samples of the cassava produced in the region were sent to the company to determine its suitability for the export market. Alesie Group Executive Turhane Doerga revealed that the cassava will be used to manufacture cassava flour, which is widely used in foreign countries in packaged meals.
Doerga said that the view of cassava as a ‘poor man thing’ has changed drastically, as the product is in high demand internationally. He said countries are using the ground provision as a specialty product which has boosted their economy.
Considering these facts, Doerga said, the company decided to act decisively, given the level of competition on the international market. “We’re now in an era where we are doing things, we are not waiting. The exercises have been done. We’ve done a lot of research…. So what we have to do now, we know. The thing is now to get it done,” he affirmed.
The Alesie executive also made it clear that the venture would allow the local farmers to have a steady market for their produce, providing them with a reliable income.
NETWORK
The company will be collaborating with the Office of the Regional Chairman and the Regional Agricultural Committee to have a network among the local farmers so that they can maximise the benefits from this initiative.
Doerga encouraged the farmers to set up a stabilisation or intervention fund, as the production is expected to be done in phases; firstly, to meet the supply level, then the accelerated phase to produce in surplus quantities.
He explained that the goal is not to compete with wheaten flour, which is most widely used, but to supply the markets that utilise cassava flour.
“We’re focused on cassava flour, but cassava flour has to compete with wheat flour; so, in the business community, we would not even touch that, because we’d say ‘why would we go and develop flour when it’s already there?’…. What we’re doing is looking for markets first, and then you want to see where you can produce it,” he said.
NAREI SUPPORT
Regional Chairman Renis Morian has collaborated with the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), which will be supplying the farmers with cassava sticks to commence large-scale production, since most of the farmers are producing at the subsistence level.
Morian said that farmers need to see a guaranteed, written agreement on the way forward, as many of them have expressed interest in being part of the project. Alesie’s Doerga said the consultation meeting was held to ascertain where the farmers are now, and where their production level will be in the next six months.
Present at the meeting was cassava expert Theodore Henry and Regional Agriculture Committee Chairman Douglas Gittens.